Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario reports 2,887 new cases; Ottawa police say 11 of 50 alleged offences by ‘Freedom Convoy’ are hate crimes, investigations underway
The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Sunday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.
11:32 a.m.: COVID-19 hospitalizations in Quebec remain high but continue to slowly decline as the province is set to reopen its cultural sector at half capacity as of Monday.
The Health Department says 2,411 people are in hospital today, a decline of 36 from the day before.
The number of people in intensive care dropped by four over the past 24 hours to 177.
Authorities are reporting 22 additional deaths linked to the virus.
Officials say 2,568 new cases were detected today, though they warn that number is not reflective of the actual situation because molecular testing has been limited to certain higher-risk groups.
They say 26,131 tests were analyzed in the previous 24 hours, with 10.4 per cent coming back positive.
11:28 a.m.: Ontario says 56 more people have died of COVID-19.
The province is reporting 2,230 people hospitalized with the virus and 486 patients in intensive care.
Health Minister Christine Elliot cautions that not every hospital reports data on weekends.
There were 2,887 new COVID-19 cases reported, but Public Health Ontario has said the true number is likely higher because of changes to the province's testing policy that limit access for many residents.
Elliott says some of the vaccination data is currently unavailable, but said Saturday that 89.4 per cent of Ontarians aged 12 and over have received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, while about 84 per cent of Ontarians over four have had two shots and 46 per cent have received booster doses.
There were 313 long-term care homes with COVID-19 outbreaks as of Friday as the province prepares to ease visitor restrictions on Monday.
7:21 a.m.: Quebec's theatres and concert halls are preparing to reopen to the public on Monday, but leaders in the industry say it will be a long road back to normalcy for a sector that is grappling with successive COVID-19 closures and rising mental health concerns.
Jon Weisz, the head of a group that represents small music venues, says that while he's pleased the government is allowing spaces to open, albeit in a limited fashion, he believes it will take three to five years for the music scene to recover financially, due in part to changes in audience behaviour.
He and others who spoke to The Canadian Press believe the culture sector has been treated unfairly by a government that has been quick to shut down cinemas, concert halls and theatres with no evidence that they're the source of outbreaks.
7:20 a.m.: Russia is reporting a record daily count of new coronavirus infections of 180,071, a tenfold spike from a month ago as the highly contagious omicron variant spreads through the country.
The figure released by the state coronavirus task force on Sunday was about 2,800 cases more than recorded the previous day and continued a surge that began in mid-January, when daily new cases were around 17,000.
Although the number of infections has increased dramatically in recent weeks, the task force reported that daily deaths from COVID-19 are holding steady or marginally declining: 661 deaths were recorded over the past 24 hours, compared with 796 on Jan. 6.
Sunday 5:36 a.m.: Thousands of protesters across Canada took to the streets Saturday for the second weekend in a row, snarling traffic, disrupting business and residential neighbourhoods and leading police to compare the demonstrations to a siege" on the nation's democracy.
What began last month with truckers complaining about mandated vaccines for crossing the border from the United States has grown into a catch-all movement for a variety of anti-government causes, laying bare deep resentments within Canada's political right.
While police and officials braced for rowdy crowds and potential violence, the atmosphere of the demonstrations by Saturday evening, though boisterous, remained mostly peaceful and festive.
But police in Ottawa, the capital, admitted they were overwhelmed by the crowds and warned that the noisy and disruptive protests posed a real threat.
Ottawa police are conducting criminal investigations into 50 alleged incidents connected to a long-running protest against COVID-19 measures in the city's core.
Police say 11 of those alleged offences were hate crimes, and four people are facing charges.
The so-called Freedom Convoy rolled into the nation's capital last weekend, and while some people went home over the course of the week, participation surged again yesterday.
Officials estimate 500 heavy vehicles associated with the demonstration were in the city centre.
Meanwhile, solidarity protests are ongoing across Canada.